John m



JOHN M.y PRATT, OFIDUDLELMAssAciUsnirTs. i

Monia oF INCQRPORATING FLocKs WITH FLANNEL, aw.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 5,757, dated September 5, 1848. y

To all whom t may concern 'i Be it known that I, JOHN MAYO PRATT, of. Dudley, in the county of .Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented. a new i and useful machine for putting all kinds of;

shearing flocks into flannels and cloths partly fulled or intended to be fulled in the mosti even and uniform manner; and I do hereby declare thatV the following is a full,clear,v

and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure I is a perspective view. a transverse section of the machine.

The parts of this machine, and the convenient though not necessary sizes of these parts, are as follows: It consists of a frame work about 9 feet long, 3% feet wide, and 3 feet high, in which are placed a cylinder marked A, one friction or drawing roller marked B, two common rollers marked C and D, a hopper or flock box marked E, a` hopper roller or flock picker marked F, a; slide at the bottom of the hopper marked G, f

and an inclined platformy marked II, withE suitable pulleys and bands to operate the? machine.

The cylinder is of wood or metal about 9 feet in length and about 10 inches in diameter, with parallel strips of wood or iron about l inches wide and 1 inch thick, put on to the outer surface of the cylinder from end to end about 6 inches apart. The shaft of the cylinder is about 19 inches distant from the bottom of the machine, and has a bearing at each end of the framework. At one end, thisv shaft extends beyond the framework on the outside, so far as to admit of one tight pul` ley l0 inches in diameter where a belt or other power is applied to operate the machine, and one loose pulley of the same diameter marked L; and at the other end the shaft extends beyond the framework and on the outside'so far as to admit of two tight pulleys of 2 inches each in diameter, one for the band marked O, to connect with the friction roller, and one for the band marked P to connect with the hopper roller.

.The friction roller is placed higher than the cylinder and parallel with it-being about 10 inches in `diameter and 9 feet in length, and its axis is about 24 inches from the axis of the cylinder at an angle of about 45 with a horizontal plane through said cylinder axis. Its shaft has a ,bearing at at one end marked R on the outside of the framework, so far as to admit of a pulley about 15 inches in diameter for the band marked O, to connect the roller with `the cylinder. Thisfroller may covered with a tight band of cloth, to assist inidrawing each end of theV framework, and itextends i and keeping thevflannel &c. in place while being flocked.

The two commonrollers are placed on the side of the cylinder opposite to the friction roller, and parallel with it, being each 'about c 3 inches in diameter and 9 feet in length. Fig. II

The axis of the upper one `is nearly on`a horizontal plane with the axisof the friction roller and 2 feet distant from it, and is about 28 inches almost vertically above the axis of the lower common roller. These rollers, which have a bearing yat, each end on the framework, serve to keepy the clothin place `while lpassing. under the cylinder.

The hopper or Hock box extends the whole length of theinsideof the framework, and

is placedvalmost directly above the cylinder and parallel thereto. The two sides of the hopper are formed by'two boards each about ll0 inches wide, placed diagonally to each other, so that the lower edges are abou`t`3 inches apart and the upper edges about 10 inches apart. Each end is closed up by a boardthe form of which is nearly that ofv anl isosceles triangle, and the hopperis fastened to the framework.

The slide is a thin lpiece of board about 3 inches wide and inch thick, directly under and running the whole length of the hopper. It is attached underneath one of the side vboards of t-he hopper by about 4 screws being fastened at equal distances in this sideboard through corresponding slits in this slide; the slits being made transversely and sufficiently long and loose to admit of the .slide being moved sidewise, so as to make the aperture between the lower edges of the side boards of the flock box narrower or wider as may be necessary.

The hopper roller or flock picker is about an inch in diameter placed inside the hopper and having its bearings at each endof the framework. Its axis, which is parallel with the axes of the other rollers, is about admit of a pulley marked S, about 3 inches ,l

in diameter, over which the band markedv P, passes inorder to connect with and receive motion from the cylinder pulley.

The inclined platform is`A i made up ofjointed boards placed underneath the other arts of the machine, in such a manner that the highest end rests on a sill about 6 inches from the Hoor on the same side with the friction or drawing roller,` and the lowest end may rest on the Hoor. This platform is of sufficient length to Ht the inside of the framework, and is about 4 feet wide.v It serves to assist the Hannel &c. in sliding back under the cylinder as it passes around for the purpose of being Hooked.

To operate the machine, the piece of Hannel or other goods to be prepared (or 2 or 3 pieces stitched together into one) is placed on the platform under the cylinder, and one end is passed around the two oommon rollers-then down under the cylinder and over the friction or drawing roller7 and then stitched to the other end of the piece that lies on the platform-thus forming to theshortness of the Hooks. Power is Athen applied to the cylinder-pulley, in the direction ofthe arrow. as marked on the plan. This power is communicated by v means of the belt marked O, to the friction or drawing roller, which moves or draws the cloth in a direction such as to rub it against the slats on the cylinder; and at the same time power is communicated by means of the belt `marked l?, to the hopper roller, so that the Hooks are made to fall in uniform quantities upon the cylinder.

The Hooks are thus rubbed into the Acloth while vthe cylinder is in rapidV revolution,

and this operation is t-o be repeated until the cloth is suHiciently Hooked.

What I more particularly claim as my invention is- The principle or mode of putting Hooks into Hannels and other cloths by means of rubbing them in with a cylinder and slats; and also the principle or moderof causing the Hooks to fall on to the cylinder in even and uniform quantities by i means of the Hock-box and pioker,hereinbefore described.

The machine described in the application for a caveat filed by me in the Patent Ofice October A. D. 1846, is the same inall essential particulars as the one herein described. The principles or modes sought to bepatent-ed are the same in each.

JOHN` M. PRATT. 

